The invention concerns a housing which can be secured to components of a motor vehicle comprising a first housing portion and a second housing portion which can be secured thereto. The components can be, for example, the bodywork, the engine or further assemblies. In that respect the housing portions usually enclose a hollow space between them.
Housings of that kind are used, for example, as air filter housings which are usually arranged in an engine compartment of a motor vehicle above an engine and beneath an engine cover for accommodating an air filter insert.
Existing housings are rigid and can result in injuries to pedestrians in the event of an accident, if the part of the bodywork covering them strikes against the rigid housing.
New legal regulations therefore require, in regard to pedestrian protection and the crash characteristics, a limited flexibility on the part of certain portions of the motor vehicle and, in particular, the engine compartment upon impact with a passer-by. New systems to be developed must therefore also integrate into that “pedestrian protection,” housings which are arranged in the motor vehicle, for example the air filter housing.